If you love to write, or want to write, or want to be around writers, Portland is the right place

View full sizeBenjamin Brink/The OregonianGary Proctor, Joyce Baldwin and Brighid King at a Write Around Portland workshop facilitated by King. Participants would write, read what they wrote, and get comments from the group.The writing scene in Oregon, and Portland in particular, is evident in coffee shops and independent bookstores. In publishing houses and tons of little magazines and readings.

And everyone here has something to say, poet Ben Moorad says.

"In almost any café you will see a few people scribbling away," the co-founder of Write Around Portland says.

David Biespiel says he was more of a loner when he left San Francisco for Portland in 1995 to write. "It was a smaller pond, and writers knew other writers. Everyone was supportive."

Biespiel, a poet, went on to found The Attic Writers' Workshop in 1999, which is now an independent literary studio that works annually with hundreds of writers.

"It's a golden period for the city right now because so much energy is going into venues through which people can become writers," he says.

There weren't many publishing houses 15 years ago, but now there are groups such as Ooligan Press, Hawthorne Books and Tin House. And between the Master of Fine Arts programs, readings and open mikes, if you want to be involved with the literary scene, there's something happening almost every night.

View full sizeBenjamin Brink/The OregonianWriting is a very hands-on experience in Portland.Powell's City of Books and the independent bookstore culture seeds literary activities. And literary figures, such as author Ursula Le Guin, are very supportive of the community.

There are writers who span many different genres, and one doesn't have to go very far to see a book by a Portland author.

Paulann Petersen, Oregon's poet laureate, knew there was a wonderful writing community when she moved back to her native Portland in 1991. One of the trends she sees now is the explosion of MFA programs and the growing number of alternatives.

Petersen will be on the faculty of The Attic Atheneum certificate program. She was drawn by its emphasis not only on writing, but also creating and building a community with other writers. The resulting groups will create a network with cross-genre aspects. Very often the communities are separate, she says, but this program broadens the community.

Petersen says that there's an abundance of writing opportunities and that people from other places are surprised and delighted by what they find here.

For instance, in April, the Central Library offered a free poetry-writing workshop. Close to 40 people turned up. Three hours of writing and readings by newbies, as well as the experienced, Petersen says.

"If you're interested in writing, this is a wonderful place to be. Communities define themselves in terms of exclusiveness or inclusiveness. Portland defines itself by inclusiveness."